Figure 1.

Prophylactic rifampicin administration reduced disease severity and restricted the loss of body weight in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). Female C57BL/6 mice induced with MOG _35–55 developed clinical symptoms of EAE. (a–c) Prophylactic rifampicin treatment (20 mg/kg/d, 40 mg/kg/d, 80 mg/kg/d, i.g.) daily starting on day 1 attenuated EAE development with different degrees compared with vehicle‐treated animals. (d–f) Under preventive rifampicin treatment, body weight loss was suppressed compared to vehicle‐treated animals. (g–i) Rifampicin treatment delayed disease onset and reduced mean clinical scores and cumulative scores. Statistical analyses of clinical score (a–c) were performed using one‐way non‐parametric anova (Kruskal–Wallis test for independent data and Friedman's test for repeated measuring data) and Bonferroni correction for corresponding post hoc comparisons. Statistical analysis of other variables (d–i) was performed using one‐way anova followed by LSD post hoc test to compare replicate by time. Values were shown as median ± upper/lower limits (PR25/PR75 quantiles) for non‐parametric data or mean ± SEM for parametric data. Statistical significance: *p < 0.05, compared with vehicle‐treated mice; **p < 0.01, compared with vehicle‐treated mice; ***p < 0.001, compared with vehicle‐treated mice.